Designing the Ranch
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THE RANCH A new, upscale restaurant and saloon brings a long-awaited performance and dance venue for country music to Southern California. HE RANCH is a state-of-the-art, fine dining and country music establishment located on the ground floor of the brand new Extron Electronics corporate headquarters Tin Anaheim, CA. A personal vision and dream of Extron President Andrew Edwards, THE RANCH comprises a rustic yet elegantly styled restaurant based on regional American cuisine and fine wines, and a similarly themed saloon next door for live concerts and dancing. This new venue delivers a unique combination of a quality culinary experience with a seasonally driven menu emphasizing the best local ingredients grown on THE RANCH farm, and an intimate setting for musical performances featuring local and prime country music artists. Facility Design Team EXTRON ELECTRONICS Andrew Edwards, President Owner Ron Tucci, Vice President of Facilities Project Manager NEWSON BROWN ACOUSTICS, LLC Michael Brown, Principal Rolando De La Cruz, Acoustical Consultant Acoustic Design Consultants Technical Design Team EXTRON ELECTRONICS Andrew Edwards, President John Fish, CTS-D, Consultant Applications Engineer Principal Designer, Sound and AV Systems Project Manager, Sound, AV and Lighting Systems ALL STAGE PRO Ian Ingram, Designer, C.O.O. Theatrical Lighting Design Sound System Design Support MEYER SOUND LABORATORIES, INC. Michael Creason, Design Services Manager FOH Speaker System Design Support THE RANCH Saloon features a large, 47 by 26 foot (14 by 8 m) sunken dance floor for guests to enjoy country music dancing, and be “up close and personal” with the performers on-stage. Inset: President and Owner Andrew Edwards and his wife Morgan. Inspiration for THE RANCH The Extron Dedication to Customer Satisfaction The inspiration for Andrew Edwards, Extron President and Owner, Extends to THE RANCH to build THE RANCH is his deep, lifelong passion for country For 29 years, Extron Electronics has been delivering high music and dancing the two-step, as well as fine cuisine. It also quality, robust AV product solutions, together with unparalleled, stems from an emotional longing for a flagship destination for personalized customer support services. Both have always country music performances and dancing, which had disappeared been part of Andrew’s uncompromising principle of combining in Orange County and Southern California since the closure in customer satisfaction and product quality. THE RANCH the 1990s of the legendary Crazy Horse Steakhouse & Saloon. For continues to deliver on that business principle through the many years, Andrew would frequent there as well as other venues extensive, year-long culinary R&D program put in place to to experience intimate performances by well-regarded country ensure THE RANCH delivered the best possible dining and wine artists, and dance the two-step with his wife Morgan and his experience from day one. For further insight on THE RANCH daughter Ashton. restaurant, see Andrew’s article on page 6. THE RANCH is Andrew’s personal vision of a new, special This devotion to customer service also included a upscale destination that pays homage to the Crazy Horse, while comprehensive, multi-year process of conceptualizing, designing, honoring the history of country music in North America. It is also and installing a state-of-the-art, live sound reinforcement system a place where passionate country music fans in Orange County featuring high performance Meyer Sound speakers, as well as and Southern California can call “home” again. high performance AV systems featuring Extron audio amplifiers 18 COVER STORY AV SYSTEMS DESIGN SUMMER 2012 and speakers throughout the saloon and restaurant. Simply put, Andrew wanted THE RANCH to be equipped with “The finest sound system available,” so that patrons could always enjoy a pleasurable, high quality sound experience, whether watching a live performance, dancing, or dining in the restaurant. Essential AV Requirements at THE RANCH Andrew’s personal vision for THE RANCH, particularly the saloon, was a revival of the historical, intimate country music club atmosphere that brings on-stage performers “up close and personal” with the fans. The saloon features a 40 foot (12 m) wide concert stage with backstage facilities, plus a large, 47 by 26 foot (14 by 8 m) sunken dance floor. Its seating capacity of 178 patrons, or up to 350 with audience seating on the dance floor, makes it a small club venue, yet one with everyone close to the entertainment on-stage. More than two years prior to the start of construction in 2010 for the Extron corporate headquarters building, Andrew and Extron Consultant Applications Engineer John Fish began to lay out the essential requirements and plan solutions for delivering A flexible Extron AV routing system provides HD video to six LCD panels over all of the AV operations for THE RANCH. Several experts in live the Longhorn and Mustang bars. sound reinforcement, building acoustics, and broadcast video production were also consulted. High Performance, Live Sound Reinforcement System Andrew wanted THE RANCH and Acoustics to be equipped with “The finest The most important requirement for the sound system was that it be capable of delivering very high quality reinforcement for sound system available,” so live country music concerts. Basically, the system should be that patrons could always enjoy capable of playing music at a moderately high volume level up a pleasurable, high quality to 105 dB, with a wide, balanced frequency response and be free of distortion. The sound should generally be perceived as being sound experience. loud, yet still comfortable to hear. “The system needs to deliver appreciable sound pressure levels as appropriate, but never actually sound too loud to the point of discomfort,” says Fish. full bandwidth music delivery with even coverage throughout. “This is especially important during concerts, when there is a “We wanted to put in a high density of speakers everywhere to tendency to really crank up the volume from the stage.” avoid the typical ‘hot spots,’ while allowing us to keep the volume Andrew was absolutely insistent on the sonic character at moderate, comfortable listening levels,” Fish says. of the room being a vital part of the sound system, since poor room acoustics can negatively impact audio quality. He AV Presentation Needs therefore mandated a holistic approach to sound system design A total of six large LCD flat-panel displays were to be installed in that includes both acoustic treatment and equipment, with the saloon, four at the 47 foot (14 m) Longhorn bar and two at the the ultimate goal of fully appreciating the sonic performance 27 foot (8.2 m) Mustang bar. Flexible switching and routing would without acoustical issues getting in the way. be necessary, so that staff could switch TV channels for any of the displays, and select the TV channel to be played through overhead High Quality Background Audio speakers at each bar, or engage closed-captioning. The requirement for high quality sound also extended to background music for both the saloon and the restaurant. The Professional Video Capabilities system design needed to include a large quantity of hi-fi quality Although high performance live sound reinforcement would speakers rather than conventional paging speakers to ensure be the major focus for AV in the saloon, there was also the www.avsystemsdesign.com COVER STORY 19 2 Large space acoustics 1 Performance venue High performance sound system 4 Multiple points of Extron control 6 Design Challenges and Solutions at THE RANCH 1 Performance venue next to fine dining restaurant DESIGN CHALLENGE Sound isolation between the saloon and restaurant must be maintained to keep a lively concert performance contained within the saloon, especially for deep bass frequencies. SOLUTION Use a “wall of rooms” design with functional space between the saloon and restaurant. This space, in combination with specialized multi-layered walls creates an effective sound barrier. 2 Large space acoustics DESIGN CHALLENGE 3 Create a controlled acoustical environment within a large, 122,000 cubic foot (3,450 m ) performance space with an RT60 value of just 0.8 seconds, essentially the sonic qualities of a high-end listening room. SOLUTION Use a generous quantity of acoustic materials integrated into ceilings and walls to limit reflections. Install an overhead 4,500 cubic foot (127 m3) bass trap to prevent low frequency resonances. 3 Hidden cable pathways DESIGN CHALLENGE Design a fully adaptable, flexible system infrastructure for future-proofing, with high capacity cable pathways throughout the saloon, while also ensuring that everything is hidden from view. SOLUTION Install wide cable tray systems close to the ceiling that cover the stage and audience areas. Large, below-floor conduits provide concealed cable pathways between the monitor and front-of-house locations. Large conduits also extend through the outer building shell to allow access for production trucks in the parking lot. 20 COVER STORY AV SYSTEMS DESIGN SUMMER 2012 3 Hidden cable pathways Multiple sources & destinations 5 4 High performance sound system DESIGN CHALLENGE The high performance sound reinforcement system must be of extremely high quality, meet the expectations of top-level touring acts, and be absolutely failsafe. SOLUTION Use “rider-friendly” sound reinforcement gear in all critical locations, including Meyer Sound line arrays and subwoofers, and Yamaha consoles at the